Listen

"Do not be astonished that I said to you, 'You must be born from above.' The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." Nicodemus said to him, "How can these things be?" Jesus answered him, "Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?"

Think

Would you be astonished if someone told you that you had to be reborn from above? What if they started talking about not understanding the dynamics of the wind and how that relates to the Spirit? What if they were wearing a parachute? What?!?

For his senior trip, my son and I went skydiving. Freefalling from 13,500 feet, the earth seems to expand and the wind rushes by at 120 mph with a deafening roar. It is almost indescribable — unless you’ve experienced it.

I feel for Nicodemus because my brow still furrows every time I hear these words from Jesus. Being “born again” or “born from above” breezes by our ears because it’s church talk that we’ve heard all our lives, and we’ve experienced it. But we’ve been able to understand and to experience it only because Nicodemus heard it that first time and asked Jesus to help him understand what it means to be “born of the Spirit.”

Pray

Go

Oh! May the God of green hope fill you up with joy, fill you up with peace, so that your believing lives, filled with the life-giving energy of the Holy Spirit, will brim over with hope!

Romans 15:13 (The Message)

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writer

Steve Cothran

Steve Cothran serves with a terrific staff at First Baptist Church, Greensboro, North Carolina, where he is associate pastor for youth/families. His wife, Nancy, is also a minister. They are blessed with three unique children, Marina, Raleigh, and Robyn.